This week, legislation was announced by Democrats in Congress geared at making prescription drugs more affordable.

The Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act would authorize the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate drug prices with companies.

If drug companies refuse to negotiate in good faith, the legislation would enable the secretary to issue a competitive license to another company willing to produce the medication as a generic.

The bill’s lead sponsor in the Senate is Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, who also introduced legislation, the Stop Price Gouging Act, which would penalize pharmaceutical companies engaged in price gouging.

The current system needs improvement and there is no reason the federal government should not be able to negotitate prices for the elderly Americans on Medicare.

President Donald Trump campaigned in 2016 on the pledge to lower drug prices and this would be a means to live up to that promise. We hope he will consider supporting this legislation, regardless of its origin in the opposite party.

This is an issue that has been talked about for far too long and action is needed.

We applaud Brown for these steps and hope that his colleagues from across the aisle will sign onto the effort.